The word about the arrest has spread like wild fire around the media, with a large chunk of the thanks going to forums and bloggers. Will this have repercussions for bloggers? Somehow I have this suspicion that the government is not yet onto the role blogs can play in spreading info. This is most probably because either the government does not know yet about the existence of blogs or they consider them too small a fish to fry at the moment, mainly because blogs are yet to catch on in popularity and readership in Bahrain as forums have.

However, even if they don't currently acquire a large local readership, this incident has definitely shown another force which bloggers can have: spreading news around. I suspect that one of the main reasons the news has spread so fast in English blogs and news sources is due to Bahraini blogs in English. Hence, this will most probably attract the government's attention to blogs. It remains to be seen what the repurcussions, whether self imposed or by force, for bloggers will be.

If you want to hear Curt Hopkins from Committee to Protect Bloggers talk about the role blogs can play in spreading news and other matters relating to the arrest, here is the link to the interview on BBC Radio Five Live (go to 1:44:00).

¶ 12:35 PM